Journal lubricator for railway cars



March 25, 1969 TRACEY 3,434,767

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Aug. 14, 1967 FIG. I

INVENTOR. BY GEORGE B. TRACEY ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl.308-243 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A railway car journallubricator having a central section and two wing sections located ateach side of the central section; a flexible upper outer cover of clothmaterial having a lock stitch looped-pile, or nap outer surface forcontacting the journal; an open mesh flexible cloth material coveringthe bottom portion of the lubricator; a wicking cloth element positionedadjacent the inner surface of the open mesh bottom cover wherein thewicking cloth has each of its outer ends in multi-ply relationship andsecured within pockets formed in the two wing elements between the upperand bottom cover elements; the upper and lower cover elements in thecentral section of the lubricator being held in space relationship byresilient core elements.

The present invention relates to an improved lubricator for journalbearings for railway cars.

The invention relates specifically to a lubricator for use with asegmented bearing for the journal and arranged in a journal box,surrounding the journal, between the bottom of the journal and the innersurface of the bottom of the journal box. The purpose of this typelubricator is to transmit by wicking and/or by capillary actionlubricants from the bottom of the journal box to the underside of thejournal. In this arrangement the journal box is utilized as an oilreservoir.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a structure that willgreatly increase the flow of lubricant to the journal over lubricatorsof this general type in present day use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lubricator with thisadditional action at very little additional cost over those presently inuse.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lubricator of thisimproved type that may be readily substituted for the general types oflubricators now in use.

While several objects of the invention have been pointed out, otherobjects, uses and advantages will become more apparent as the nature ofthe invention is more fully disclosed which consists in its novelconstruction arrangement and combination of its several partsillustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the detailedfollowing description.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of theimproved lubricator.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the lubricator illustrating itsposition with respect to the journal and the journal box.

In referring to the drawings like reference characters are used todesignate like and similar parts throughout the several views.

The lubricator is adapted to be used with a standard railway car journaland journal box wherein the journal box acts as a reservoir for the oilto be conveyed to the journal by way of the lubricator. Referring inparticular to the drawings, the lubricator A is located within thejournal box as illustrated in FIG. 2. The journal is normally theextension of the car wheel axle. Supported on the journal 10 is asegmentary bearing 14 which generally extends only about the upperportion of the journal and is housed with the journal within the journalbox 8. The axle in turn being connected with means for supporting therailway car. The journal is spaced upwardly from the bottom surface ofthe journal box to provide space for the carrying of the oil supply 12and the lubricator A extends between the bottom 8' of the journal box 8and the under surface of the journal 10.

The lubricator is usual-1y of rectangular form and is of such dimensionsas to contact the full longitudinal length of the journal and to extendlaterally to substantially contact the sides of the journal box forholding the lubricator in position beneath the journal.

The lubricator comprises in general, a flexible cloth upper coverportion 15 having a lock stitched looped-pile outer surface and a bottomcover 16 of an open woven material. The two covers are stitched togetherin such a manner as to form a central portion and a wing portion on eachside of the central portion. There are a pair of resilient core elementsB and B positioned Within the central section, but is not limitedthereto, as any convenient number of core elements may be used includinga single core element. The upper cover member 15 is preferably of amaterial having a locked stitch, loopedpiled or napped outer surface.The central resilient core elements are constructed preferably from asuitable resilient material such as natural or synthetic rubber, or thelike. The upper cover element 15 is preferably constructed of one piecean cut to sufficient length to extend over the entire upper surface ofthe lubricator unit and between the central core members B and B asshown at 15' and 15". The lower cover member 16 is constructedpreferably of a knitted open mesh cloth and extends along the bottom ofthe lubricating unit A, and up each of the two sides and beneath thewing elements C and C cooperating with the upper cover to form pocketsin the wing portions C and C. However, these covers may be constructedof any suitable material.

Extend along and adjacent the interior surface of the bottom cover 16there is a highly efficient wicking material 18 such as roving cloth.This wicking material, or roving cloth extends preferably completelyalong the bottom of the lubricating unit, up the side walls to where thebottom and top coverings are stitched together at each side of thecentral section and into the wing elements C and C. The two covers andthe roving cloth are stitched together at the bottom by stitches 19. Theupper cover 15 is stitched together by stitches 20 adjacent the uppersurface of the lubricator to form one side of two central pockets forthe resilient core members B and B. The core elements also have thefunction of absorbing oil and acting as an oil reservoir for the centralcover portion. The upper and bottom covers are stitched along parallellines by stitches 21 and 21 forming the central pockets in the centralsection of the lubricator. The two covers 15 and 16 are also stitchedalong their outer elongated edge by stitches 22 and 22 to form similarbut smaller pockets in the wings C and C. The mesh material used as thebottom cover allows for the rapid movement of the oil therethrough tothe wicking material to be delivered to the wing elements C and C.

The wicking material is of such length that it is folded, rolled,bunched or in other multi-ply form as shown in FIG. 1 for providing anoil reservoir for each of the wings C and C. The oil is wicked up thesides of the unit by the wicking material and into the wing area whereit is held in readiness to be transmitted by capillary action throughthe cover element 15 to the loop-pile to the journal 10, lubricating thesame.

There is provided a strap 23 stitched to the cover elements andsurrounding the core elements B and B in which there is provided agrommet (not shown) and in which a conventional hook may be placed forremoving the lubricating unit from the journal housing when desired.

In operation the lubricator is placed within the journal box 8 as shownin FIG. 2. The central section of the lubricator and the resilient coresB and B are placed beneath the lower surface of the journal, the coresbeing of such thickness as to be slightly compressed to insure that theloop-pile surface of the upper cover 15 are always in contact with thejournal. The wing elements C and C extend outwardly from the centralportion along the outer edges, contact the sides of the journal box tohold the lubricating element in position under the journal. The wingelements C and C are also in contact with the journal. Oil is inducedinto the journal box through an appropriate opening to a level extendingbelow the journal to a depth of several inches. The core and top coverwith its loop piles will attract a certain amount of oil upwardlythrough the center of the unit to the upper surface of the upper coverwhere it will contact the surface of the journal. However, even thoughof less cross sectional area, the wings supply a large amount oflubricant to the journal by wicking the oil directly into the wings bythe wicking material 18 into the mu-lti-ply wicking material 18' carriedin the wing elements where the oil is stored to be conveyed by capillaryaction through the upper cover 15 of the wing members where it will bedeposited on the journal.

The oiling of the journal is greatly enhanced by the presentarrangement. The oil moves rapidly through the bottom mesh cover to thewicking material where it is conveyed to the multi-ply pile 18' in thewing elements.

I claim:

1. A journal lubricator for use in railway car journal boxes in whichthe journal box serves as an oil reservoir wherein oil is lifted fromthe reservoir by a wicking material to the underside of the journal,comprising:

(a) a central section and a hinged wing portion on each side of thecentral section;

(b) said central section and hinged portions comprising a flexible coverof woven material having at least a nappy upper surface and formed intoa plurality of transverse pockets extending substantially thelongitudinal length of the journal when mounted within a journal box;

(c) a sheet of wicking material extending parallel with the bottomportion of the cover and adjacent the inside surface thereof, theopposite ends of the wicking material terminating in each of the wingportions; and

(d) the portion of the wicking sheet extending into the wing portionsbeing in multi-ply relationship to form an accumulation of the saidwicking material for the storage of oil therein.

2. A journal lubricator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cover over theupper surface of the lubricator is formed with a lockstitch loop-pileextending outwardly from its upper surface and the cover for the bottomof the lubricator being of a woven mesh material for allowing the oil toflow readily therethrough to the wicking material.

3. A journal lubricator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper coverextends downwardly through the center of the central section to form adouble pocket longitudinally of the said section and a resilient coreelement position within each of the said pockets for keeping the centralportion of the lubricator normally in expanded position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,080,200 3/1963 Bair et a1.308243 MARTIN P. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner.

FRANK SUSKO, Assistant Examiner.

